


The Science of Luck

by I_am_Best



Series: Wander's Campfire Stories [4]
Category: Wander Over Yonder
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-07-06
Updated: 2017-07-06
Packaged: 2018-11-28 10:04:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,529
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11415603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/I_am_Best/pseuds/I_am_Best
Summary: Wander has to save Sylvia.





	The Science of Luck

"Syyylviiia?" Wander sang as he walked through the caverns.

Water poured in endless columns around him, causing sunlight to splinter and dance across the walls. They'd been playing in the sparkling, shallow sea above when Sylvia had disappeared under the surface, caught, Wander had to assume, by one of the waterfalls' currents. That was how he'd gotten down here, at least. They weren't strong currents, but it was just a matter of being unbalanced and falling through one of the holes scattered across the ceiling. Which was the floor of the sea.

Droplets collected on his fur as he walked, yelling over the rushing water, occasionally stopping to gaze at the pretty pools full of colorful water-glass sea life and peer down into crevices full of dripping mineral deposits. The entire cave system sparkled with rainbow colors. Wander was in love. If he hadn't actively been looking for Sylvia, he'd not leave for days.

But he had a mission. Had to focus on that. Wander shielded his eyes with one hand and squinted into the deeper recesses of the cave. "Hmmm," he said thoughtfully to nobody. "If I was Sylvia, where would I be? Ahah!"

There she was. Wander'd recognize that raspberry crest anywhere. She was with some darker figures, and while Wander usually threw himself into situations completely unawares, something slowed his progress. It took him a moment to place, but Sylvia looked worried. And was looking at him. Wander caught the slightest of shakes of her head and ducked behind a low rock formation.

He crept closer.

"You wouldn't believe our surprise when we heard _the_ Shotgun Syl had wandered into our territory," a woman said. Wander knew that voice, though he hadn't heard it in years. Lady Lead. "Can't believe you'd show your face around here after that stunt you pulled. But I'm a reasonable person, and I want to set a good example for my girls, so I figured we should settle this like adults."

"I didn't realize the Blaster Girls still _had_ territory," Sylvia said, and her voice hardly shook. She was so brave, especially when Wander knew there was plenty to fear. "How'd prison treat you?"

"It took a while to recover," Lady Lead said as though they were talking about the weather. "Had to go ghost after you stole our destabilizer from us. We had a lot banking on it."

" _He_ wasn't yours to be stolen. He's a person."

Wander smiled at that, but it turned into a wince as he heard the muffled impact of Sylvia getting hit. The idea of her hurt instinctively made him a little sniffly. Especially for this reason.

"People are tools, Syl. Like, say, bounty hunters. You give them an objective, they do the objective. They don't kill the other bounty hunters, steal the goods, then vanish into thin air." Lady Lead's voice cut off as she was approaching yelling territory. She took a breath. "I heard you're still traveling with my destabilizer, by the way. Using it to tackle bigger, bonier fish. That was a mistake. Bad things happen around it."

Wander heard the sound of a blaster charging and scrambled out from his hiding spot to fling himself between Sylvia and Lady Lead.

She jerked just in time and the shot went wide. Sylvia gasped behind him, and he tried not to shake as he stared up at Lady Lead.  She was dressed in a formfitting black, skirted suit, white exoskeleton stark against it. She had three hands -- one more than the last time Wander had seen her. Three other women stood in a semi-circle around them. Lady Lead tilted her head, her filament halo shifting through several colors at the movement, and made a curious clicking noise.

"Oh. That was easy. Hello, destabilizer."

"H-hi, Miss Lead. Folks call me Wander, now."

"So I've heard. We'll make this easy. You come back with me, and I don't kill Syl." She shifted the gun back into position, sights on Sylvia.

Wander felt Sylvia's larger hand come to rest on him. He knew she'd die to protect him, if it came to that, and that Lady Lead would kill her to get him, if it came to that. He really didn't want it to come to that.

"What if I don't?"

Lady Lead stared at him a moment. "I... kill Syl and take you anyway. This isn't a negotiation. You only have two options."

Wander shook his head and wrapped both of his hands around Sylvia's one. He just had to trust it’d work out. "I ain't goin' with ya."

Lady Lead fired, and Wander and Sylvia cringed. Instead of a blast, though, there was a sizzle. Lady Lead hit the side of her gun, then threw it away in disgust when all it did was spark.

She grabbed at Wander.

"Get your hands off him, you --" Sylvia's insult and move to knock Lady Lead away were cut short as the others leveled their weapons.

"It's okay, Sylvia," Wander assured Sylvia even as Lady Lead wrapped a hand around his throat, arm, and leg, wrenching him from her with a strangled little cry.

It really _wasn't_ okay, and Wander was scared, but he didn't want Sylvia hurt on his account. He knew how good Lady Lead was at hurting folks. It’d work out, he told himself. Somehow.

That was when the discarded blaster exploded, shaking the cave system. Water began to sprinkle down around them, the only warning before a large section of ceiling gave way, drenching them all in a torrent. Wander wriggled free of Lady Lead's grip and caught Sylvia's reins before he could be washed away.

The water leveled out, now simply a wall of water pouring down from above like the rest. It had taken all of twenty seconds. Wander lay in a puddle like a drowned rat.

Sylvia picked him up. "Wander, buddy? Are you okay?"

He pressed a hand to his head, checking that his hat was still there. "Yeah. What about the others?"

Sylvia glanced around. It was just them. "They're... probably fine."

"Probably."

Sylvia brought him in for a hug, all her earlier tension melting in relief. "Oh my grop, please never do anything like that again."

Wander giggled, wrapping his arms around her neck. "Anything like what?"

"Throwing yourself in front of a blaster. Letting yourself be taken by people. Any of that. Don't."

Wander snuggled up against Sylvia and sighed. "It was fine."

Sylvia moved him to her saddle and began walking, searching for a way out of the caves. "It was only by sheer, dumb luck it was fine. What if she hadn't pulled up in time? What if her blaster hadn't shorted? What if it hadn't exploded?"

"What ifs don't get us nowhere, Syl ol' girl. Sometimes ya gotta just trust that the universe has your back."

Sylvia was silent, either because it was a point she couldn't argue, or because it was a point not worth arguing. Wander was safe. She was safe. Having that sort of trust in some great, unknown, uncaring cosmos wasn't something she could do, though. She didn't know how Wander could.

"What's a destabilizer, anyway?" she asked finally.

Wander giggled. "Different folks come up with different names 'cause nobody wants to say 'this is my lucky charm'."

Sylvia came to an abrupt stop and twisted her neck to look at Wander. "Wait. Are you saying the universe actually _does_ have your back?"

Wander shrugged. "I sure do get lucky a lot." And that was that.

* * *

"You've been real quiet since we got out of that cave," Wander said, inviting himself into Sylvia's seat at the small rest area on stilts above the shallow sea. "Is somethin' the matter?"

"Did you ever travel with anyone before me?"

"On 'n' off. But mostly no."

Sylvia petted Wander absently, mind elsewhere. Wander alone versus a whole universe of nastiness, and here he was, unharmed. What were the odds? Pretty good, she supposed, if he was some sort of universal lucky charm. It was strange, having  _him_ rescue her like that. She didn't know how to feel about it.

"How much protecting do you actually need, Wander?"

"Oh, lots. Lots and lots --" he cut himself off at Sylvia's look. "Well how much do ya need someone _to_ protect?"

"What do you mean?"

Wander climbed closer to Sylvia, to where she had to wrap her arm around him or he'd go right over the other side. He didn't say anything.

"Do you mean... your needing protecting is directly proportional to my needing to protect you?"

He shrugged. "I ain't called Self-Sufficient, now am I? I'm called Wander. I wander into places I oughtn't be."

"And I gave you that name."

"That ya did, Sylvia."

Sylvia hugged Wander tighter, thinking on who she’d be without him -- what she’d be, which was probably dead. A bounty hunter’s life was neither kind nor long. He might have been a lucky charm to others, but he was her friend, and that was what she needed. She wasn’t going to think on it any more than that.

“Wait, you _killed_ Killbot 85?”

Sylvia coughed. "Um. Well, you see..."


End file.
